THE POLANIAN DYNASTY 85By that time, the name of Piast was little more than an ancient legend in Poland.
It was used as a political label at Royal Elections for any candidate who could
claim to be a native-born Pole; but it had no other significant connotation.
Eventually in the 1780s, it was revived by the historian, Bishop Naruszewicz, to
denote that ancient Polanian dynasty which had claimed descent from Piast the
peasant but which had never used his name for themselves. It has been used in
this way ever since.
In some ways, Piast Poland lacked originality. Like many medieval principali-
ties, it was essentially a replica in miniature of those grander kingdoms of the
West which it tried to emulate. Its horizons were largely bounded by the preoc-
cupations of the prelates and princes who sought to impose the values of a
Christian society on a remote and backward people. Yet in the long run their
mission was well accomplished. The foundations were well laid. After the brief
Angevin interlude, the Kingdom of Poland was set fair to found one of the most
original civilizations of early modern Europe, which, in union with Lithuania,
spread out from sea to sea, and lasted for more than four hundred years.